Has the UCI dumped Armstrong ?

So the UCI are saying it is up to AFLD to pass judgement? So the question, is did his behaviour (those alleged delaying tactics) actually contrvaene any rules?

Rolfrae said:

So the UCI are saying it is up to AFLD to pass judgement? So the question, is did his behaviour (those alleged delaying tactics) actually contrvaene any rules?

Just surprising that the UCI didn't back Armstrong and say he had no case to answer. To wash their hands clean of this incident appears strange.

whiteboytrash said:

Just surprising that the UCI didn't back Armstrong and say he had no case to answer. To wash their hands clean of this incident appears strange.

I guess they are washing their hands of having to deal with it. If he gets in trouble the UCI can say it was the pesky French what did it. You're right though, surprising they didn't circle the wagons.

Has Lance been Twittering on any of this? Anyone out there sad enough to know?

Rolfrae said:

I guess they are washing their hands of having to deal with it. If he gets in trouble the UCI can say it was the pesky French what did it. You're right though, surprising they didn't circle the wagons.

Has Lance been Twittering on any of this? Anyone out there sad enough to know?

Just read this:

"Bruyneel said he called UCI chief Pat McQuaid to make sure the AFLD had the authority to test Armstrong out of competition. He said McQuaid transferred him to UCI anti-doping policy manager Anne Gripper, who confirmed the request was valid. (Gripper could not be immediately reached for comment by ESPN.com.) "I was on the phone for maybe 10, 12, 15 minutes," Bruyneel said. "Lance took a shower and put on shorts and a T-shirt, and then he gave the samples, which took about an hour and a half."

Under AFLD rules, and those of the World Anti-Doping Agency, testers must keep athletes in sight from the time they are notified of a test until the time samples are collected. Bruyneel said that the tester, who was waiting outside, could not see Armstrong the entire time, but also did not ask to come in or at any time tell Bruyneel that he had to stay with Armstrong. "There was never any feeling of tension, of 'I have to get in,'" Bruyneel said. "It was always a very friendly conversation."

Some shower..... 90 minutes !

whiteboytrash said:

Some shower..... 90 minutes !

Maybe he was waiting on the water heating up?
So what next for the French? Will they charge him? What's the bets Armstrong doesn't ride (race or train) again in France before the Tour.

whiteboytrash said:

Some shower..... 90 minutes !

I read it that it took him 90 minutes to give the samples, not 90 minutes in the shower.

Rolfrae said:

Maybe he was waiting on the water heating up?
So what next for the French? Will they charge him? What's the bets Armstrong doesn't ride (race or train) again in France before the Tour.

He already has not race in France before TDF... he prefer to be tested only by UCI people who like bribes.

How many times it takes to do a blood transfusion or to dilute his blood? 😄

classic1 said:

I read it that it took him 90 minutes to give the samples, not 90 minutes in the shower.

I thought he made the testers wait 30 minutes but I may be mistaken. 90 minutes sounds like a really long time to make some one stand behind your door.

There is good reason to delay the testing.

First, to dilute blood but riders are still well trained to do it, that takes them less a quarter of an hour.
Second it's to let time to a masking agent to act.

I will no surprise if he tests positive because :
- it was not a UCI test so he wasprobably not warned prior the test
- he closed the door in the first time
- he phoned Bruyneel and Ferrari to take advices about how to beat that testing!

With his background, Armstrong should have known that the tester needed to have eyeballs on him from start to finish, so to speak.

The fact that Johan is picking up the phone demanding to know if the test was done under proper authority speaks volumes. The rest of the [censored] is just damage control.

jimmypop said:

The fact that Johan is picking up the phone demanding to know if the test was done under proper authority speaks volumes. The rest of the [censored] is just damage control.

Exactly. If he was innocent, totally clean then he might get annoyed at being woken up but he'd get on with the test, and Johan most certainly wouldn;t be phoning the UCI trying to get the test stopped.

poulidor said:

There is good reason to delay the testing.

First, to dilute blood but riders are still well trained to do it, that takes them less a quarter of an hour.
Second it's to let time to a masking agent to act.

I will no surprise if he tests positive because :
- it was not a UCI test so he wasprobably not warned prior the test
- he closed the door in the first time
- he phoned Bruyneel and Ferrari to take advices about how to beat that testing!

I can just imagine the horror in him when he closed the door to the testers and started thinking of ways to cheat the test, assuming that he was on juice at that time of course.

Rolfrae said:

Exactly. If he was innocent, totally clean then he might get annoyed at being woken up but he'd get on with the test, and Johan most certainly wouldn;t be phoning the UCI trying to get the test stopped.

It feels unprobable that they would have messed up so badly so I think Lance did manage to lower his values enough so that he let them carry the test.

I would point the finger more at the testers and not Armstrong. It doesn't sound like he run away from them or anything he just closed the door. They could have threatened Armstrong with him failing the test if he didn't take it right away or not. It sounds like they were ok with him locking them out.

I think the tester was probably surprise to have the door closed in front of him, he had few times to react... and no pssibility to force that door.
If as said Lance he was tested more than 20 times, he knows well what was on, and that he didn't have to close the door, even if it was an AFLD test. He could let the tester enter and phone in front of him.

Half an hour was a too long time, Lance or Bruyneel the Hog knew it ! he could have close the door by despite and then, in a few minutes, correct his bad mood! Especially when they know that they were violating a rule!

Or maybe he wanted to speak sex with Bruyneel? So he wouldn't shock the tester by a so hot conversation! 🙄

RdBiker said:

I can just imagine the horror in him when he closed the door to the testers and started thinking of ways to cheat the test, assuming that he was on juice at that time of course.

These testers are smart. Why did you think they took hair samples ? Because they know he went inside washed his hair 900 times and attempted to dilute his blood. They are not testing for PED's but masking agents. By closing the door and acting suspiciously he fell into their hands. I can see this going horribly wrong for Armstrong. You can see what’s going to happen now. He will test positive for a masking agent or at least some very bad hair conditioner and/or mid-80's WHAM styled Club Tropicana

and then claim the French were out to frame him. Repeat to fade.

whiteboytrash said:

These testers are smart. Why did you think they took hair samples ? Because they know he went inside washed his hair 900 times and attempted to dilute his blood. They are not testing for PED's but masking agents. By closing the door and acting suspiciously he fell into their hands. I can see this going horribly wrong for Armstrong. You can see what’s going to happen now. He will test positive for a masking agent or at least some very bad hair conditioner and/or tight mid-80's WHAM styled Club Tropicana

and then claim the French were out to frame him. Repeat to fade.

When I heard about this I thought that this was nothing but now it's beginning to look like this really is quite serious for Armstrong. If he really was surprised by the testers like it seems and had only 30mins to "mask his PEDs" it doesn't look good.

I guess we'll see in a few months. Or how long does it take for the samples to be tested?

RdBiker said:

When I heard about this I thought that this was nothing but now it's beginning to look like this really is quite serious for Armstrong. If he really was surprised by the testers like it seems and had only 30mins to "mask his PEDs" it doesn't look good.

I guess we'll see in a few months. Or how long does it take for the samples to be tested?

Here's hoping. But the problem is that they already have a load of non-sanctionable positives. And now they might have a load more. So what exactly would this change? People who follow cycling already know that he dopes; people that follow Armstrong will continue to say that the sneaky French are using unofficial/unrecognised/contaminable methods to try to discredit their man. Back to square one. Will the Tour refuse entry on the grounds of an unrecognised test when the media of the whole world come calling expecting to see their star? No.

RdBiker said:

When I heard about this I thought that this was nothing but now it's beginning to look like this really is quite serious for Armstrong. If he really was surprised by the testers like it seems and had only 30mins to "mask his PEDs" it doesn't look good.

I guess we'll see in a few months. Or how long does it take for the samples to be tested?

I may jest but.....

The mere fact that VeloNews would report a story on Armstrong picking his nose and now doesn't print this story means its got legs. The AFLD testers don't kick down doors. What they do is mark the behaviour of the person being tested and adjusts the testing to that behaviour. Perhaps they were there for a routine urine sample. Armstrong closes the door calls the Hog and surfaces after his shower. That’s when they said lets get a hair sample because then we can test for saline and if it has been added to the blood system within an hour of the testers arriving. Now if they were working with WADA here they could get INTERPOL involved and see what phone calls were made. Old Twitter boy has gone silent on us now ….